The invention relates to a method of and to an apparatus for ascertaining the times which elapse during contests between animate and/or inanimate participates of races and other contests, for example, during contests between motor vehicles, human beings, animals and/or human beings on animals or in motor vehicles or other types of vehicles (including boats, bicycles, sleds, skis and others).
It is often desirable to ascertain the times of various contestants or participants with a very high degree of accuracy, normally within fractions (especially hundredths) of a second. This holds true for contests including foot races, horse races, automobile races, dog races, boat races, ski races and a number of others. As a rule, the contest is started in response to the firing of a starter gun or in response to opening of one or more gates, and the contest for a particular participant is terminated when such participant reaches (i.e., crosses) the finish line. It is customary to install a camera at the finish line as well as to install at the finish line a monitoring device (such as a combination of a radiation source and an optoelectronic transducer) which generates a signal denoting the exact time when a participant reaches the finish line and thus interrupts the beam of radiation between the radiation source and the transducer. It is further known to employ a video camera in conjunction with a monitor which provides a series of pictures of the finish line and the adjacent portion of the track and/or which is connected with a suitable printer serving to furnish still pictures at selected intervals. For example, the camera will take pictures at intervals of four hundredths of a second, and the equipment at the finish line will further include means for recording on each picture the exact time (counting from the start of the contest) when the respective picture was taken.
A drawback of heretofore known apparatus which are used to ascertain the times of participants in a contest (such as a foot race, a ski race, an automobile race or a horse race) is that the equipment is very expensive as well as that such equipment does not permit immediate and automatic determination of times of various participants, not even of the winner of the contest. Thus, if the winner happens to cross the finish line at an instant which does not coincide with the making of a picture by the camera at the finish line, the time which is recorded on the picture (and denotes the instant of taking the picture) need not always coincide with the instant when the beam of radiation from the source to the transducer of the aforediscussed monitoring device is interrupted by the winner. Thus, it happens again and again that the picture of the winner at the finish line shows the winner at a time when she, he or it has already advanced at least slightly beyond the finish line.
It was further proposed to provide the apparatus at the finish line with means for recording a series of increments of time at intervals which are indicative of an estimated average speed of the participants. This is done for the purpose of facilitating the determination of times of also rans, i.e., of participants crossing the finish line behind the winner. A drawback of such proposal is that the average speeds are mere estimates and can considerably depart, especially in the region of the finish line, from actual speeds of the participants. This greatly affects the accuracy of determination of the times of also rans with attendant inaccuracies in determination of fastest times of second, third, fourth etc. finishers of a contest. The exact times of also rans are or can be of great importance in many short foot races (100 yards, 200 yards, 100 meters, 200 meters, etc.) if only the participants with fastest preliminary heat times qualify for the finals.
For example, if a short foot race is assumed to be run at a preselected average speed but a preliminary heat happens to involve a group of exceptionally fast runners or highly competitive runners who complete the heat much faster than anticipated (i.e., at an average speed considerably exceeding the anticipated average speed), the list of finalists may not include those with the fastest times in the preliminary heats. An error in the range of one hundredth of a second suffices to disqualify from the finals one or more contestants whose preliminary heat times were estimated in accordance with heretofore known proposals. At the very least, certain participants will not be ranked according to their true times during preliminary heat so that they will have to accept less satisfactory lanes or, in the case of horse or automobile races, lanes which are more distant from the pole or rail than warranted by the performances of such participants during the preliminary races.
The equipment which is used at important sports events, such olympic games, world championships, international automobile ski races and like contests is highly sophisticated and is capable of accurately determining the finish times of participants, even when the finish times of several participants differ only by minute fractions of a second. The equipment normally includes numerous computers, cameras and picture making units including monitors, printers and others. Such equipment is much too expensive for use at a club level, at a high school level or even at a college level.